


the stillness of deep waters

by 100demons



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:10:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2431679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100demons/pseuds/100demons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The light flickers on with a familiar hiss and Sai tilts his head, considering the tall figure standing in front of his fridge door, shoulders slouched and hands stuffed in his pockets casually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the stillness of deep waters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elizabeth_rice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabeth_rice/gifts).



The light flickers on with a familiar hiss and Sai tilts his head, considering the tall figure standing in front of his fridge door, shoulders slouched and hands stuffed in his pockets casually.

“Would you like some tea?”

Naruto whirls around, face caught in the fragile beat between guilt and excitement before it settles for a wide grin instead. “Sai! Sorry, sorry, bad habits. I should have just waited outside your door, but I got kinda antsy and the lock on your door was pretty easy to pick and then I came in and then you came in!”

“Tea would be good,” Sai murmurs in answer to himself and sets his groceries down on the counter by the sink, taking extra care with his eggs. The last time he’d been so careless, he’d ended up with six broken eggs and a telephone call to Sakura, who’d given him a ten minute lecture before referring him to her mother’s omurice recipe. 

“Hey, hey, maybe you should have better security and stuff,” Naruto says and there’s a scrape as he pulls out one of the kitchen chairs and plops onto it backwards, straddling the seat. “What if all sorts of weird people come in and break into your apartment and attack you?”

Sai fills up the electric kettle with measured motions, digging out a box of barley tea from the cabinet up top. “You mean people like you?”

“Enemy ninja,” Naruto says, pointed.

The kettle starts humming the minute he sets it on its little pot burner and Sai carries the two empty mugs over to the kitchen table, tea tags fluttering by the handles. “I only have barley.”

“S’okay,” Naruto beams up at him. “You don’t look as much like a ghost. Have you been going out and actually seeing the sun?”

“I have seals set up,” Sai says, serenely ignoring him. “They’re calibrated to keep intruders out and alert me if they’re broken.”

“Oh.” Naruto props his chin on a hand, lips pursed thoughtfully. “But then how did I get in? Are you sure they’re working?”

“Yes. They’re formulated to allow your passage across the boundaries.”

Even now, it’s almost painful to see the raw flicker of emotion playing across Naruto’s face; Sai feels something deep inside him shiver and ache at the naked openness in Naruto’s eyes, in the way that he allows himself to feel so deeply. Sai’s not sure whether he wants to look away or continue to stare, fascinated, so instead he settles for looking down at Naruto’s hands, which are expressive in their own way. 

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Naruto says, slowly.

“It’s not really a nice thing,” Sai tells him, matter of fact, but Naruto’s hands wave away his words. 

“Yeah, but it’s a _Sai_ nice thing,” Naruto emphasizes, as if there is a difference.

Sai can’t see it, but he trusts in Naruto’s ability to overly complicate basic facts. The kettle starts whistling in the background and Sai gets up, shutting the electricity off and bringing it over to the table.

“Thanks,” Naruto says, cupping his hands around the chipped mug as Sai pours hot water into it. “S’been a while since I had time to just sit down and have tea like this.”

“How is the village?”

“Same old, same old,” Naruto mumbles around a hot sip, grimacing as the tea scalds his tongue. “They’re getting started on my head on the mountain.”

“Really? Did they use one of my sketches?”

Naruto looks at him sourly. “I still can’t believe you sent in a tiny penis.”

“Sakura thought it was funny.”

“Yeah, well, Sakura thinks that anything making fun of me is hilarious.” 

“I always thought Sakura was very smart,” Sai says. 

Naruto kicks at Sai’s shin, which he deftly avoids. “Asshole. I see retirement hasn’t made you any less of a creepy guy. How’s the civilian life going?”

Sai considers the bag of tea floating in the murky depths of his mug. “It’s … different.”

“Well, sure,” Naruto says. “You actually wear normal shirts now that cover your front.” 

“I wear sweaters,” Sai responds, sipping meditatively at his tea. “It’s cold here in the mountains.”

“Ok ok, no more stupid jokes.” Naruto slurps at his tea, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand when he’s done. How odd, that his jinchuuriki markers have disappeared, whiskers long since faded away since that last battle. Sai sometimes still has trouble reconciling this new face with the old laughing boy he used to know. 

“Do you like it?”

Sai looks away from his friend and toward the fridge, where Akiko’s drawings are taped up, depicting her latest attempts at drawing her pet dog, Hiro. 

Naruto tracks his gaze and smiles. “I was lookin’ at those when I came in. Are they pictures of poop?”

Well, Sai considers. Hiro the dog does have poop-colored fur. “It’s supposed to be a dog,” he says finally. “Akiko drew them.” At Naruto’s bewildered look he adds, “My student.”

“Huh,” Naruto says. “You’re her teacher?”

“I think so.” Akiko wandered up to his floor of the apartment building one day, covered in finger paint and dirt with a big black dog trailing after her woefully, and had never quite left. 

“Teachers and students, that’s special.” Naruto leans forward into the wooden backing of the chair, a thoughtful, almost sad look on his face. “I’m glad you got out, Sai. You look happy.”

Sai touches his fingertips to his face, searching for the movements that give away his emotions. 

“It’s in your eyes,” Naruto says gently, cupping Sai’s cheek with a calloused hand. Sai stills, carefully. “Happy 20th Birthday.”

“You came all the way out to Lightning Country to tell me? You could have called.” Sai tries to keep his voice even and practical, but something cracks deep inside him, reverberating through the bones of his chest and into the tender flesh of his throat.

“You’re my friend,” Naruto says simply. 

Sai doesn’t look away this time when Naruto leans over to press his mouth against Sai’s.


End file.
